But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
Ver. 7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah] The ark and the mercy seat were never separated. Judah had not utterly cast off God, as Israel had; but worshipped God in the temple (how. corruptly soever), therefore they shall have mercy, because they kept the right way of worship. See the Church's plea for mercy to this purpose, Jeremiah 14:9. Again, Judah was now in a very great strait, having been lately beaten and plundered by Israel, 2 Kings 14:12, therefore they shall have mercy. God heard Hagar's affliction and relieved her. "I have seen, I have seen the sufferings of my people in Egypt, saith God, and am come to ease them," Exodus 3:7. "Because they have called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man looketh after, therefore I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord," Jeremiah 30:17. He will repent for his people when he seeth their power is gone, Deuteronomy 32:36, when there is dignus vindice nodus, an extremity fit for Divine power to interpose. He knows that mercy is never so seasonable and sweet as when misery weighs down, and nothing but mercy turns the scale; therefore Judah shall have mercy, when Israel shall have none. True it is, that Judah was not at this time much better than Israel, Aholibah than Aholah: they were scarce free from sodomy and many such like foul abominations. But what of that? if God come with a non obstante, as Psalms 106:8, "Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake," &c., who shall gainstand him? if he will show mercy for his name's sake, what people is there so wicked whom he may not save? See Isa 57:17 Ezekiel 20:8; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 20:44. Add hereunto that Israel and Syria were confederate against Judah, and thought to have made but a breakfast of them, Isaiah 7:5; but God here promiseth Judah mercy; and lets them know, to their comfort, that there is more mercy for them in heaven than there can be misery in earth or malice in hell against them. True it is, that even after this gracious promise made to Judah, it went very hard with them. See 2 Chronicles 28:6, there 120,000 of them were slain in one battle, and 200,000 of them carried captive: yea, and all this by these Israelites here rejected from that mercy that Judah is promised; besides abundance more misery that befell them by Edomites, 2 Chronicles 28:17, Philistines, 2 Chronicles 28:18, Assyrians, 2 Chronicles 28:20 &c. Ecclesia haeres Crucis, saith Luther, The Church, as she is heir of the promises, so is she of the cross: and the promises are always to be understood with condition of the cross. The palsy man in the Gospel, healed by our Saviour, heard, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee," and yet he was not presently freed of his disease, till, after a dispute held with the Pharisees (which must needs take up some time) and the case cleared, Jesus said, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk," and so show thyself a sound man. But to go on: Judah shall be saved, and not Israel, that envied Judah and maliciously sought their ruin. David looketh upon it as a sweet mercy, that God had spread him a table in the presence, and maugre the malice, of his enemies, Psalms 23:4. And the children of the kingdom (so the Jews are called) shall gnash their teeth, and be even ready to eat their nails at the reception of the Gentiles, Matthew 8:11. This was that which put the men of Nazareth into an anger, and our Saviour into a danger, Luke 4:25; Luke 4:29 .
By the Lord their God] That is, by the Lord Christ, by Messiah their Prince, by the word of the Lord their God, saith the Chaldee here, that Word essential, John 1:1, that true Zaphnath Paaneah (that is, Saviour of the world, as Jerome interprets it), whereof Joseph was but a type. This horn of salvation, or mighty Saviour (able to save them to the uttermost, εις το παντελες, that come unto God by him, Heb 7:25), God raised up for these unworthy Jews, and even thrust him upon them, whether they would or no, Isaiah 7:13,14, that all might appear to be of free grace. Well might God say, "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah": matchless mercy indeed! mercy that rejoiced against judgment. Man's perverseness breaketh not off the course of God's goodness; Judah shall be saved by the Lord their God, who is Alius from his Father, but not Aliud, a distinct person, not a distinct thing. This angel of God's presence saved them, in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, &c., Isaiah 63:9, even the angel that had redeemed their father Jacob from all evil, Genesis 48:16; and that, soon after this prophecy, destroyed so many thousands in Sennacherib's army, "Not by bow nor by battle," &c., but by his own bare hand immediately and miraculously, 2 Kings 19:35; where we may see that when Sennacherib (after the example of his father Salmaneser, who had captivated the ten tribes) came up against Judah, having already devoured Jerusalem in his hopes, and thinking to cut them off at a blow, as if they had all had but one neck, they were saved by Jehovah their God: the virgin daughter of Zion knew well the worth and valour of Christ her champion, and that made her so confident, Isaiah 37:22. She knew whom she had trusted, not with her outward condition only, but with her inward and everlasting, with her precious soul, saying with David, "I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts," Psalms 119:94. "I will not trust in my bow, neither shall mine arm save me: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, for thou hast a favour unto me," Psalms 44:3; Psalms 44:5. See Trapp on " Zec 4:6 " See Trapp on " Zec 14:3 " See Trapp on " Zec 14:5 " That is an excellent passage, Psalms 21:13, "Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power."